Seven restaurants, three people, one kitchen. This is the way of the future for some in the post-pandemic restaurant world. Set ups like these go by different names: delivery-only, virtual kitchens or most often, ghost kitchens. Whatever you call them, they’re culinary businesses that operate out of a professional food prep space or restaurant kitchen and all they offer are meals for delivery. Dining in is never an option.
The concept is not new—food trucks are technically ghost kitchens—but they proliferated during the pandemic, especially early on when welcoming diners inside was not an option. Even in the year-plus since customers have been permitted back indoors, though, many restaurants have been working to cut costs and the need to rely on a full cadre of employees. And while some turned to the ghost kitchen concept temporarily, others are staking out for the long run. In fact, the market research firm Euromonitor estimates that by 2030, ghost kitchens could be a $1 trillion business globally. That’s thanks in part to diners becoming more comfortable with delivery because of COVID-19 but also because people are looking for convenient options beyond their typical drive-thru, the firm says.
One such venture, GhostKitchenSA, an arm of The Co-op SA, officially opened in January offering food from seven different ghost kitchen concepts—Outlaw Burger, Miss Mazy’s Amazin’ Chicken, Firebelly Wings, Crave Burger, The Wing Dynasty, Wild Wild Wing and Outlaw Burger. Chefs Stephen Paprocki and Adrian Cruz together handle the menus and preparation for each restaurant and work from the Fork and Garden kitchen at Los Patios. Last month, Paprocki and Cruz also added a dine-in concept, Gun Slingers, at the same venue (it also offers delivery).
All of the crew’s ghost kitchen meals are available for pickup or delivery via the Uber Eats, Postmates, Grubhub and DoorDash apps, which is why, next to taste, the chefs say reviews and, therefore, presentation is important. Along with keeping up a digital presence online and on social media to spread the word about their food, the chefs also mark every container that goes into a hotbox for delivery with “VIP.”
“Treat everyone like a VIP and they’ll be happy,” Paprocki says. “We let them know that each person is just as important as the one before them and that we will do everything we can to make sure they’re satisfied.”
Just like with food trucks, some ghost kitchens start with a to-go model so they can work up to a brick-and-mortar business. That was the case for chefs Jeff White and Luis Colon. The two launched JDubs Burger and Grubs from the former 5 Points Local kitchen earlier this year before hosting pop-ups at places like The Good Kind and then expanding to serve in-person diners at Moses Roses downtown.
Ceasar Zepeda saw his concept, River Wok, which he says was the first pandemic-era ghost kitchen to launch locally, as a way to bring some creativity into an already existing kitchen. The delivery-only noodle bowl eatery operates out of his Alamo Biscuit Co. during the evening hours when the breakfast restaurant is closed, but it also has the flexibility to pop-up elsewhere should another restaurant in town want to collaborate.
Paprocki says with the demand they’ve seen, their team has no plans to transition away from ghost kitchens anytime soon. But, they add, if the pandemic taught them anything, it’s that they must always be willing to adjust and change. Cruz and Paprocki say they sometimes miss the face-to-face interaction of dine-in service but that the online feedback and comments they receive keep them going.
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September 30, 2021 at 02:07AM
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Ghost Kitchens Are Changing the Way We Eat - San Antonio Magazine
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